Recent global assessments have shown the limited coverage of protected areas across tropical biotas, fuelling a growing interest in the potential conservation services provided by anthropogenic landscapes. Here we examine the geographic distribution of biological diversity in the Atlantic Forest of South America, synthesize the most conspicuous forest biodiversity responses to human disturbances, propose further conservation initiatives for this biota, and offer a range of general insights into the prospects of forest species persistence in human-modified tropical forest landscapes worldwide. At the biome scale, the most extensive pre-Columbian habitats across the Atlantic Forest ranged across elevations below 800 masl, which still concentrate most areas within the major centers of species endemism. Unfortunately, up to 88% of the original forest habitat has been lost, mainly across these low to intermediate elevations, whereas protected areas are clearly skewed towards high elevations above 1200 masl. At the landscape scale, most remaining Atlantic Forest cover is embedded within dynamic agro-mosaics including elements such as small forest fragments, early-to-late secondary forest patches and exotic tree mono-cultures. In this sort of aging or long-term modified landscapes...

In southern Bahia, Brazil, large land areas are used for the production of cocoa (Theobroma cacao), which is predominantly grown under the shade of native trees in an agroforestry system locally known as cabruca. As a dominant forest-like landscape element of the cocoa region, the cabrucas play an important role in the conservation of the region`s biodiversity. The purpose of this review is to provide the scientific basis for an action plan to reconcile cocoa production and biodiversity conservation in southern Bahia. The available research collectively highlights the diversity of responses of different species and biological groups to both the habitat quality of the cabrucas themselves and to the general characteristics of the landscape, such as the relative extent and spatial configuration of different vegetation types within the landscape mosaic. We identify factors that influence directly or indirectly the occurrence of native species in the cabrucas and the wider landscape of the cocoa region and develop recommendations for their conservation management. We show that the current scientific knowledge already provides a good basis for a biodiversity friendly management of the cocoa region of southern Bahia, although more work is needed to refine some management recommendations...

Conservation genetics has been focused on the ecological and evolutionary persistence of targets (species or other intraspecific units), especially when dealing with narrow-ranged species, and no generalized solution regarding the problem of where to concentrate conservation efforts for multiple genetic targets has yet been achieved. Broadly distributed and abundant species allow the identification of evolutionary significant units, management units, phylogeographical units or other spatial patterns in genetic variability, including those generated by effects of habitat fragmentation caused by human activities. However, these genetic units are rarely considered as priority conservation targets in regional conservation planning procedures. In this paper, we discuss a theoretical framework in which target persistence and genetic representation of targets defined using multiple genetic criteria can be explicitly incorporated into the broad-scale reserve network models used to optimize biodiversity conservation based on multiple species data. When genetic variation can be considered discrete in geographical space, the solution is straightforward, and each spatial unit must be considered as a distinct target. But methods for dealing with continuous genetic variation in space are not trivial and optimization procedures must still be developed. We present a simple heuristic and sequential algorithm to deal with this problem by combining multiple networks of local populations of multiple species in which minimum separation distance between conserved populations is a function of spatial autocorrelation patterns of genetic variability within each species.

In the Luangwa Valley, Zambia, persistent poverty and hunger present linked challenges to rural development and biodiversity conservation. Both household coping strategies and larger-scale economic development efforts have caused severe natural resource degradation that limits future economic opportunities and endangers ecosystem services. A model based on a business infrastructure has been developed to promote and maintain sustainable agricultural and natural resource management practices, leading to direct and indirect conservation outcomes. The Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) model operates primarily with communities surrounding national parks, strengthening conservation benefits produced by these protected areas. COMACO first identifies the least food-secure households and trains them in sustainable agricultural practices that minimize threats to natural resources while meeting household needs. In addition, COMACO identifies people responsible for severe natural resource depletion and trains them to generate alternative income sources. In an effort to maintain compliance with these practices, COMACO provides extension support and access to high-value markets that would otherwise be inaccessible to participants. Because the model is continually evolving via adaptive management...

This paper introduces a special feature on biodiversity conservation and poverty traps. We define and explain the core concepts and then identify four distinct classes of mechanisms that define important interlinkages between biodiversity and poverty. The multiplicity of candidate mechanisms underscores a major challenge in designing policy appropriate across settings. This framework is then used to introduce the ensuing set of papers, which empirically explore these various mechanisms linking poverty traps and biodiversity conservation.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF)
supported High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project
intended to increase the ecological security of globally
significant biological resources, especially within
threatened tropical moist forest ecosystems. The project
aimed to establish effective systems for the protection of
30 Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs) in all
tropical forest biomes in Ghana in four regions within the
high forest zone - namely, Ashanti, Eastern, Central, and
Western regions. The project focused on communities living
at the periphery of these GSBAs.

A Global Environment Facility (GEF)
special study on stakeholder participation and social
issues, including science and technology, was conducted for
30 GEF-financed biodiversity conservation and sustainable
use projects which have been completed or are near
completion. The findings indicate that the degree of
stakeholder participation varies by country and project, but
the most effective approaches were those designed at local
or community levels.

On March 12, 1992, the Regional
Environment Divisions and the Global Environment Facility
Administration in the Environment Department sponsored a
one-day workshop. Conservation professionals, financial and
legal specialists, and Bank operational staff involved with
biodiversity, particularly Global Environment Facility (GEF)
projects, gathered to discuss trust funds, endowments, and
foundations as a means of providing long-term, continuous
funding for biodiversity conservation. Following this,
another workshop focusing on trust fund design for GEF
biodiversity projects was held on July 31, 1992. The paper
previewed in this article outlines the main issues and
operational lessons from both workshops. It is dividied into
three subheadings. The first section deals with issues in
setting up a long-term financial mechanism; the second
section addresses special considerations for the GEF; and
the third summarizes conclusions from both workshops.

The Latin America and Caribbean Region
has been at the forefront of global biodiversity
conservation, dedicating 20 percent of its land to protected
areas compared to 13 percent in the rest of the developing
world. This progress has stretched available budgets for
conservation with estimates indicating that a twofold
increase would be necessary to achieve optimal management of
existing protected areas based on 2008 data. Recognizing the
importance of this financing challenge, this document
presents examples of how the region is successfully
exploring news ways and sources of finance for biodiversity
conservation. It is intended as an input to the global
discussions on biodiversity financing drawing from a
selective review of concrete experiences where governments
are tapping nonpublic finance sources in effective
partnerships. The cases reviewed point to common features
contributing to their success: (i) variety in arrangements;
(ii) enabling legal and institutional support; (iii)
capacity based on record of experience; (iv) building social
capital; (v) clarity about conservation objectives; (vi)
strong government leadership in guiding biodiversity
conservation policies and programs.

Introduction: This working paper explores the local expression of global environmental narratives. How do universal ideas shape new spaces, subjects and institutions? How do local natures and peoples, in turn, influence and reshape the global narratives themselves? My particular focus is the deployment of discourses of biodiversity in tropical non-Western settings, especially their application in integrated conservation and development projects. The paper questions the dominant global understanding and practice of biodiversity by placing it within a social and cultural context, and through the consideration of local cases aims to tease out various ‘cultures’ of biodiversity conservation. I highlight the interaction between culture and the science and practice of biodiversity in order to stretch biodiversity so as to accommodate other voices, meanings and articulations. Finally, I try to rethink biodiversity as a dynamic and transformative ‘meshwork’ and imagine a diversity of biodiversities.; no

Tropical deforestation is leading to a loss of economically productive timber concessions,
as well as areas with important environmental or socio-cultural values. To counteract this threat in Southeast
Asia, sustainable forest management (SFM) practices are becoming increasingly important. We assess the
tools and guidelines that have been developed to promote SFM and the progress that has been made in
Southeast Asia toward better logging practices. We specifically focus on practices relevant to biodiversity
issues. Various regional or national mechanisms now inform governments and the timber industry about
methods to reduce the impact of production forestry on wildlife and the forest environment. However, so
many guidelines have been produced that it has become difficult to judge which ones are most relevant.
In addition, most guidelines are phrased in general terms and lack specific recommendations targeted to
local conditions. These might be reasons for the generally slow adoption of SFM practices in the region,
with only a few countries having incorporated the guidelines into national legislation. Malaysia, Indonesia,
and Laos are among the frontrunners in this process. Overall there is progress, especially in the application
of certification programs...

In the Sal Island (Cape Verde) there is a growing involvement, will and investment in the creation of tourism synergies. However, much of the economic potential of the island can be found submerged in the sea: it is its intrinsic 'biodiversity'. Due to this fact, and in order to balance environmental safety and human pressure, it has been developed a strategy addressing both diving and fishing purposes. That strategy includes the deployment of several artificial reefs (ARs) around the island. In order to allocate demand for diving and fishing purposes, we have developed a socio-economic research approach addressing the theme of biodiversity and reefs (both natural and artificial) and collected expectations from AR users by means of an inquiry method. It is hypothesized a project where some management measures are proposed aiming marine biodiversity conservation. Using the methodology named as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) it was scrutinized stakeholders' perception on the best practice for marine biodiversity conservation in the Sal Island. The results showed that to submerge obsolete structures in rocky or mixed areas have a high potential, but does not gathers consensuality. As an overall conclusion, it seems that limitation of activities is the preferred management option to consider in the future.

Despite substantial investments in biodiversity conservation interventions over the past two decades there is relatively little evidence about whether interventions work, and how they work. Whether an intervention is deemed to ?work? depends upon how goals are defined and then measured, which is complex given that different stakeholders have very different expectations for any intervention (including species conservation, habitat protection, human wellbeing or participation goals), and because the process of measuring impacts can involve a simplification of more sophisticated ideals. These questions were investigated for a suite of biodiversity conservation interventions, implemented during 2005-2012 in the Northern Plains landscape of Cambodia. The interventions included the establishment of Protected Areas (PAs), village-level land-use planning, and three different types of Payments for Environmental Services (PES) instituted within the PAs. The PES programmes were (1) direct payments for species protection; (2) community-managed ecotourism linked to wildlife and habitat protection; and (3) payments to keep within land-use plans.
The impact evaluation compared the results of each of the interventions with appropriate matched controls...

This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12113/abstract.; Digital games play an important role in the lives of millions of people worldwide. The games industry is expanding rapidly, and games are developing in sophistication and complexity. Games (and gaming approaches to other activities) are increasingly being used for serious or social purposes in a wide range of fields, including biodiversity conservation. This paper evaluates the potential of ?conservation games? (digital games that promote conservation). It explores ways in which conservation might make use of digital games in the areas of (1) education and behavior change, (2) fundraising, and (3) research, monitoring, and planning. It discusses the risk that games may distract gamers from the real world and its problems or provide misleadingly simple narratives about conservation issues. We conclude that there is great potential for conservation to take more advantage of digital games, provided that conservation games are developed in collaboration with game design specialists, have specific rather than general aims, target a specific and conservation-relevant audience, and (above all) are fun to play.; This project was funded by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative Strategic Initiative Workshop Fund.

In the Sal Island (Cape Verde) there is a growing involvement, will and investment in the creation of tourism synergies. However, much of the economic potential of the island can be found submerged in the sea: it is its intrinsic 'biodiversity'. Due to this fact, and in order to balance environmental safety and human pressure, it has been developed a strategy addressing both diving and fishing purposes. That strategy includes the deployment of several artificial reefs (ARs) around the island. In order to allocate demand for diving and fishing purposes, we have developed a socio-economic research approach addressing the theme of biodiversity and reefs (both natural and artificial) and collected expectations from AR users by means of an inquiry method. It is hypothesized a project where some management measures are proposed aiming marine biodiversity conservation. Using the methodology named as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) it was scrutinized stakeholders' perception on the best practice for marine biodiversity conservation in the Sal Island. The results showed that to submerge obsolete structures in rocky or mixed areas have a high potential, but does not gathers consensuality. As an overall conclusion, it seems that limitation of activities is the preferred management option to consider in the future.; Na Ilha do Sal (Cabo Verde) existe um crescente envolvimento...

We exploit the known links between natural habitats and biodiversity to pose and study the
biodiversity conservation question as an optimal stopping problem. We extend the extant literature
on this question by studying the role that autonomous and nonautonomous policies play in the
decision to conserve biodiversity over time and uncertainty. We first construct a dynamic and
stochastic model of decision making in the context of biodiversity conservation. Next, we use this
model to analyze the expected utility of a social planner when this planner uses, respectively,
autonomous and nonautonomous policies. Finally, we compare and contrast the properties of
autonomous and nonautonomous conservation policies and we discuss the magnitude of the flexibility
premium stemming from the maintenance of temporal flexibility in decision making.

There are five key reasons why biodiversity conservation should be considered a part of plantation management. (1) The plantation estate is large, and balancing various land management values with wood and pulp production is important when extensive areas of land are involved. (2) The locations and management of new plantations will affect the biota that currently exist in such landscapes. (3) Maintaining some elements of biodiversity within plantations can have benefits for stand productivity and the maintenance of key ecosystem processes such as pest control. (4) The retention (or loss) of biota in plantations is relevant to the formulation of ecological standards and the certification of plantations in many parts of the world. (5) Plantation forestry has a narrow and intensive management focus on producing a forest crop for a limited array of purposes. It will not meet future societal demands for a range of outputs from plantations (in addition to wood and pulp supply), and will not be congruent with the principles of ecological sustainability. This paper briefly reviews the biodiversity conservation values of Australian plantations. It shows that almost all work in Australian plantations, whether conifer or eucalypt, highlights the importance of landscape heterogeneity and stand structural complexity for enhancing biodiversity. Management of plantations to promote landscape heterogeneity and stand structural complexity and enhance the conservation of biodiversity will...

Biodiversity conservation, particularly on communal and rural farmlands, is still of a great concern in South Africa. This worry is further worsened with the different threats, ranging from deforestation and habitat fragmentation, encroachment, pollution, invasion of alien species, wildfires, logging, to hunting that communities pose to biodiversities on their lands. Agriculture emerges the greatest factor posing the most threats to biodiversity. Using this framework of interconnectedness between biodiversity and agriculture, this paper presents a philosophical argument exploring the role that agricultural extension can play to realise the goals of biodiversity conservation on South African communal and farm lands. Drawing on relevant published works, this paper argues that extension is particularly well positioned to address biodiversity conservation concern through the instruments of social mobilization, education, indigenous knowledge facilitation, linkages and ongoing advisory services.

Accomplishing household food security simultaneously with biodiversity conservation, particularly on communal farm lands, constitutes a great challenge in South Africa. This is because biodiversity species are being threatened on lands wherein agricultural production is done in the name of securing food availability. The general threats to biodiversity are in the forms of deforestation and habitat fragmentation, encroachment, pollution, invasion of alien species, wild fires, logging, and hunting. Over time, agriculture emerges the greatest threat to biodiversity. Using this framework, this paper presents a scientific argument, backed with empirical evidences, by exploring the role that agricultural extension can play to realise the goals of biodiversity conservation on South African communal and farm lands. Drawing on relevant published works, this paper argues that extension is particularly well positioned to address both food security and biodiversity conservation concerns through the instruments of linkages, local knowledge facilitation, social capital and education.

There is no doubt that public agricultural extension has contributed to the success of South Africa's current large-scale farmers, the fruit of which the nation still enjoys. Nonetheless, the ineffectiveness of the extension service to meet the current challenges - particularly among resource-challenged, small-holder farmers - is widely acknowledged. This ineffectiveness extends to promoting household food security within the context of encouraging biodiversity conservation on farm lands. To examine this, this paper draws on recently conducted research to sketch the current model within which extension pursues these seemingly dichotomous objectives and identifies some gaps which, if addressed, can enable extension to simultaneously meet these two objectives. The paper presents a refurbished extension model which builds on the current South African model by introducing three elements: collaboration among all the stakeholders involved in promoting food security, biodiversity conservation and agricultural extension objectives; adopting a capacity-building approach (replacing the current top-down, technology transfer approach) to support farmers who are significant actors in food security and biodiversity agendas; and re-invigorating extension institutions through introducing specific presently lacking capacities. The refurbished model postulates that extension...